1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally directed to safety devices for miter saws and, more particularly, to supplemental blade guards for use with miter saws. The supplemental guards are pivotally mounted on opposite sides of the saw blade housing associated with a miter saw in such a manner that they extend below, forwardly and rearwardly of the cutting blade at all times until contact is actually made between the blade and a workpiece as the blade is lowered toward the workpiece at which time the supplemental guards are returned in abutting relationship with the workpiece.
2. History of the Related Art
Conventional miter saws normally incorporate a table or cutting surface upon which a workpiece is supported. The saws include cutting blades that are mounted within at least a fixed upper housing and, in some instances, may include secondary pivotal or moveable guards which are mechanically raised relative to the saw blade as the saw blade is lowered from a raised home or non-cutting position to a cutting position adjacent the table or cutting surface. Unfortunately, with conventional miter saws, a significant portion of the cutting blade is exposed, even when the saw is raised to a non-use position. This frequently results in an operator being injured by accidental contact with the blade.
To overcome the possibility of accidental injuries associated with miter saws, some manufacturers have incorporated moveable blade guards which cooperate with the fixed upper blade housings to partially cover the forward edge of the blade which would otherwise be exposed toward the operator. Such moveable blade guards are mechanically connected to the miter saw so as to be pivoted relative to the cutting blade when the blade is lowered toward a workpiece to thereby expose the cutting blade for purposes of cutting the workpiece. Unfortunately, in most instances, such moveable blade guards are positioned so that a significant portion of the cutting blade remains exposed before and after the workpiece is engaged by the cutting blade, thus creating a hazard which can lead to operator injury.
Examples of prior art miter-type saws including blade guards are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,343,213 to Drixler, 4,805,504 to Fushiya et al., 4,869,142 to Sato et al., 4,892,022 to Cotton et al., 5,054,352 to Fushiya et al., 5,184,534 to Lee and French Patent 2,669,252 to Michel et al.